People In Passing » Video

The Apple Tree

Brad — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 07:02:37 +0000

I’ve been trying to figure out how to articulate what I see when I watch this video and it hasn’t been easy. Particularly because there weren’t really words the first few times I watched it, mostly just feelings. Excitement, wonder, appreciation, etc… primarily focused at the person who had taken the time to make it. If nothing else it is an amazing construction of different imagery timed impeccably to music. But there was more for me and I haven’t been able to explain it.

So here’s a shot.

Long ago popular culture reached such a critical mass that it began feeding on itself. I initially noticed it when sitcoms would refer to other sitcoms currently on the air as if to assert their status in reality by saying “See we’re like you, we watch that show too”. Actually, I’m sure pop culture referencing itself has been going on forever. I just don’t have any good references right now and I’m not willing to do the research. Let’s assume it’s true, or you’re welcome to post evidence to the contrary.

Today with advanced tools available for cheap to anyone and the perfection digital copies this has evolved to involve different media. There are tons of examples of music being remixed, sampled, cut and rebuilt into something that stands on its own as something new. From Hip-Hop to Dangermouse’s Grey Album (Jay-Z’s Black Album plus the Beatles White Album) to Girl Talk who takes pieces of upwards of 100 individual songs to make a single new one.

When I saw this video I saw the continuation of that trend into video. This being the best execution of a video mashup I’ve seen, but there was something more. There was a feeling with it. I’ve watched it a few more times trying to put it into words, trying to find a frame of reference to explain it with. I may have tried too hard to find one and just fabricated my own, but whatever, that’s what I like about music without words. I get to take it wherever I want, not where the lyrics tell me to go.

When you watch this you’ll see literally thousands of separate images mostly from action movies, horror movies, sci-fi movies etc… Explosions, natural disasters, zombies, vampires, etc… in rapid succession, timed impeccably to the glitchy, erratic, yet compelling beat. What you won’t see is a narrative. I thought I saw one at first but no. It’s a dance. If you look at this as what it is – a music video – and you expand your definition of dance to include all movement (car, plane, explosion, human, animal, etc…) – it can then be seen as a choreographed dance set to serve the music and not the other way around.

Full screen and LOUD is preferable…

Lastly you have to give credit to the guy who made it (unemployed at the time and not in the business of making videos). He’s made a name for himself in an industry he wanted to get into by creating something and putting it out there. Which led to a request by the band (The Glitch Mob) for him to make a trailer for the new Tron movie set to one of their tracks. Which was picked up by the producers of the movie.

Flobots: Fight With Tools

1st Anniversary

Brad — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:46:43 +0000

Summer and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary a couple weekends ago. The year has just flown by us. It’s hard to imagine the chaos that was only just beginning to subside about this time a year ago.

To commemorate the leap into marriage we decided to jump off a bridge.

About an hour North of Portland there is a very high bridge in the woods of Amboy Washington owned by the good people at Bungee.com. How high? About 230ft. making it the highest commercial bungee bridge in the US.

You have to walk out on the bridge when you get there which allows you to look down at the foot deep stream of water running below. There is nothing comforting about it. However, the five people that got there ahead of you that are screaming with excitement as they bounce around on the long cable attaching them to the bridge, is comforting. This like many dangerous activities, with proper care, can be done safely. The people running the bridge are all about safety. They double and triple check the gear, select the correct cables for your weight, and tell you how to avoid getting popped in the face by the (padded) cables.

When you get to the platform you really aren’t thinking about how far down it is anymore. You’re only thinking – Jump – and then you do.

Summer had to wait quite a while to get her jump in so they gave her the option of doing a running jump off the opposite side of the bridge. Most people aren’t given this option until their third jump. She went for it without hesitation. You’ll hear her say “Go big or go home baby!” as she’s running toward the edge (right before all the screaming).

That’s my girl!

And then two more jumps before she was done.

It was a fantastic day, all day long. I wonder what we’ll do next year.

Failure – The Secret To Success

Brad — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:19:43 +0000

I stumbled across this Honda Advertisement, which is actually much more than an advertisement.

Check out thier “Dream the Impossible” series here: http://dreams.honda.com

Run like…

All Aboard!

Brad — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:09:24 +0000

I’ve got some serious catching up to do with my posts. In the meantime, how about something to watch. This is my kind of commercial.

No related posts.

Where the hell is Matt? 2008

Brad — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:51:21 +0000

If you read the background on this, it just started off as something funny to do and then took off like a rocket. This is his third video, the last one from 2006 was inspiring as well.

More at http://www.wherethehellismatt.com

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Infoporn

Brad — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:34:29 +0000

I like information and I’m a very visual person. One of my favorite sections of any Wired magazine is the couple pages dubbed “infoporn” which display some sort of statistical information in a creative and potentially impactful way.

Bar and Pie charts just don’t cut it anymore.

I recently stumbled across a site that will give me my pretty data fix whenever I need it. Enter infosthetics.com, a blog dedicated to data visualization and visual design, that scours the nets for interesting infographics.

See links to things represented like:

Gas price by county

An average american’s spending habits

Or videos visualizing Greenhouse Gas production

Or the romantic aspirations of thousands of online daters.

See things in different ways.

“Cool”

Wanna Go For A Ride?

Brad — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:57:16 +0000

Starting in Albuquerque I filmed every mile of the drive to Sioux City in hopes of compiling it into a time lapse display of the drive. Well, here is my first shot at it. I had to cut out the night driving to make it fit, but you couldn’t see that much in the dark anyway.

You might notice: The Royal Gorge, Pike’s Peak, Cows, Parking under a bridge to avoid hail, me taking pictures, etc…

Here you go, hold on to something.

[flv:http://peopleinpassing.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/Drive_Flash.flv 500 375]